


Isolation

by LeDiz



Series: The 48: StH 2020 [2]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Gonna make a better life, Isolation, Sonic is the topic but not a character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:15:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22839178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeDiz/pseuds/LeDiz
Summary: That feeling when you realise you need to adopt someone just so they won’t be alone anymore...
Series: The 48: StH 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1641913
Comments: 17
Kudos: 378





	Isolation

At first, Sonic didn’t sleep at their house. The night of their big fight with Robotnik, he bid them goodbye at their door and raced off into the woods.

But the next morning, he was awkwardly hovering outside the backdoor when Tom woke up, and didn’t wait for more than an equally awkward invitation before sprinting inside. With that, Tom got the distinct impression they weren’t getting rid of him easily.

He had to go into work to stop Wade from panicking too badly, but Maddie decided to spend the day getting to know Sonic. Part of that had been taking Ozzy on a walk through the woods, Sonic showing her all his favourite places.

Which was how they found out about the Cave.

Maddie didn’t go inside at the time because Sonic didn’t really let her. He just stood in the entranceway and bragged about how it was the coolest place ever. He’d worked pretty hard on it, but obviously it’s a guy’s place, you know – no ladies or their dumb dogs allowed.

She nodded, made appropriately awed noises, and tried not to laugh at any attempt of machismo from a fluffy little animal-boy that barely reached her hip.

“I totally want to check it out,” she told Tom as they got ready for bed that night. “How do you think an alien lives? Is he like a normal hedgehog, do you think? Would he have a nest?”

“I don’t think so. He seemed pretty comfortable with the concept of beds,” Tom said absently, but then looked up at her with a cheeky grin. “What do you say we go look tomorrow? I can tell him we need his statement to close out the Robotnik case, and that I can’t be there since I was personally involved.”

“Ooh, sneaky; I like it a lot.”

Sonic fell for the subterfuge mostly because he apparently really wanted to see the inside of the sheriff’s station and meet Country Lady and Tough Bunny (they didn’t ask about the names). They, on the other hand, only waited long enough for him to disappear down the driveway before all but running for the woods.

To pass the time on the way there, they let their imaginations run wild. It started simple, with Maddie explaining how real hedgehogs burrowed, and then they started trading off with ideas about ‘alien differences’ until they were imagining the cave to be full of incredible creations made of glowing blue quills that produced advanced technology like hoverbeds and revivification machines.

Unsurprisingly, they were a little off the mark.

“Well,” Tom said as he crouched at the entrance and peered inside, “it’s definitely a cave.”

“Dug out?”

“Nope, looks natural,” he said, ducking his head to look at the ceiling. “It’s just a hollow. Probably the rock eroded around that tree up there.”

“That’s kind of disappointing,” Maddie said, and then pushed at his shoulder. “Let’s get in there.”

The cave was pretty deep for a small one, with a steep first step, but it was a pretty easy drop for Tom. He reached up to help Maddie down, and then they both turned to look at the home their new little friend had built.

It was almost funny, how wrong they’d been. It was just a simple little cavern, with a huge bean bag in the middle, a broken-down washing machine off to the side, and a few boxes of stuff. It wasn’t a nest, it was…

Maddie trailed off as the fact really hit home. It _wasn’t_ a nest.

“It’s like a kid’s treehouse.”

Tom knelt down over the comic collection and thumbed through a few copies. Apparently, Sonic was a DC fan, with a special fondness for the Flash. They were old and water-damaged, but not nearly as bad as he might have expected out here in the woods. Maddie picked through one of the boxes, finding a strange collection that reminded her of the way the bottom of her closet had been as a teenager: old toys, a few pieces of mis-matched sports equipment, electronics she didn’t have the equipment to play anymore…

There was a bag that was clearly a kind of closet, filled with ripped and burned clothes and shoes that obviously hadn’t been able to keep up with Sonic’s feet.

Underneath that was another box, this one filled with books. Not novels, or anything like that, but textbooks. The kind kids learned to write with, copying letters until they were perfected, or filled with simple mathematical equations, or traced the states and countries.

“He taught himself to write,” Maddie breathed as she flipped through the spelling book. He hadn’t just filled out the expected sections but entire pages, scribbling tiny letters in every available space. The geography book was filled with over-drawn tracings, mapping out large areas. Tom winced as he realised why Sonic knew the name of the Pacific Ocean but not the way to any particular towns.

“Tom,” Maddie murmured, “how old is Sonic?”

He didn’t answer, because he was starkly aware that he didn’t know. He hadn’t bothered to ask, more concerned by the fact Sonic was a super-fast alien. “He said he’s been in Green Hills for years.”

“How many years?”

“I… don’t know,” he admitted. “He was on other worlds before this one. But he said Earth was the longest.” He paused before adding, “Everywhere else, people found him and he had to run away pretty quick…”

“Oh, god,” she sighed. She closed the book and threw it back in the box, turning to look at the whole cave again. She could recognise everything here. Anyone could. It was a kid’s bedroom without the bed. She turned to face her husband, already bracing herself for a fight. “Tom –”

“Maddie, I want him to live with us.”

She balked, her eyes widening, and he raised his hands defensively. “I know, this is a lot. I know I’ve been asking way too much of you these last couple of days, and I know this is a crazy commitment, taking in a kid. An alien. This… particular alien. But… he’s a good kid, Maddie. He’s a good kid who’s been on his own for way too long and –”

She cut him off by grabbing his shirt front and dragging him down for a kiss. When she let him go, he blinked at her, a little dumbfounded. “What…?”

“Let’s go borrow the neighbour’s truck,” she said. “We’re going to need it to bring all this stuff home.”

He blinked, obviously as shocked as she was that they’d both been thinking the same thing. But he quickly grinned and nodded. “I’m thinking the attic. It’s got that skylight, so he can see out, but it’ll be good to hide in if anyone comes looking and –”

“Yes, but let’s go now. We probably don’t have a lot of time before he gets back,” she said with a laugh. “I want this to be a surprise.”

“You’re amazing,” he said, and kissed her again. “Have I told you that? You’re amazing.”

“You can keep saying that any time you like, but you’re still going to have to help me out of here,” she said, gesturing to the exit. “Do you think we could string up fairylights around the attic ceiling? I think he’d like that.”

“You are so amazing,” Tom said again, before leading her over to start dealing with the too-high exit.

They’d give him his own room. They’d give him real, healthy food that he didn’t have to steal. They’d buy him shoes when this pair broke down. They’d give him a home.

And with any luck, their little blue friend would never have to feel like he was alone again.

**Author's Note:**

> The 48 is a collection of unfinished, unedited, and unplanned stories that I keep on my harddrive either because I'm not sure what I'm doing with them or I don't think I'm part of the fandom.
> 
> I'm pretty sure the Sonic 2020 part is going to be based on an old prompt set called Fifteen Tables, but whether I can get through 15 prompts is another question. We shall see.


End file.
